Lt Gen Dimokritos Zervakis, Chief of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus, held an "insightful" telephone call on Monday with his counterpart Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces Gen. Anil Chauan.
In a social media post, the Cypriot chief of defence stressed that this was a follow-up call on "recent political agreements, focusing on the enhancement of our mutually beneficial Cyprus-India bilateral military cooperation."
Insightful telephone call today with my counterpart Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces Gen. Anil Chauan.
Follow - Up on recent political agreements, focusing on the enhancement of our mutually beneficial 🇨🇾 - 🇮🇳 bilateral military cooperation.#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/xdgN6los2Q— Lt Gen Tsitsikostas Georgios (@chod_cy) August 14, 2023
The phone call comes as Cypriot Defence Minister Michalis Giorgallas met with the High Commission of India in Nicosia to enhance mutually beneficial bilateral defence and military cooperation.
Minister @GiorgallasM held a very productive and forward looking meeting with the HC of @HCI_Nicosia.
Exchange of views focused on enhancing our mutually beneficial bilateral defence and military cooperation. pic.twitter.com/i8TxNoo5lo
— Ministry of Defence 🇨🇾 (@DefenceCyprus) August 11, 2023
At the same time, the Cyprus Foreign Ministry sent a "Congratulations to the Government and people of India on the occasion of Indian Independence Day."
https://twitter.com/CyprusMFA?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
It is recalled that Cyprus and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defense and military cooperation in December 2022. The document was signed during the working visit to Cyprus of India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The statement said that Jaishankar and his then Cypriot counterpart, Ioannis Kasoulides, also signed an MoU on Cyprus' accession to the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
The ISA aims to promote cooperation in the efficient production and consumption of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
With Cyprus' then Interior Minister Nicos Nouris, Jaishankar also signed a Letter of Intent to launch negotiations for an agreement on migration and movement with the aim of managing irregular immigration.
Cyprus has long supported India's stance on Jammu and Kashmir.
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